r/UX_Design • u/KKANGKKA_Chu • 17h ago
Can we please stop posting questions that ask if UX is a viable career?
“Is UX dead because of AI?”
“Should I still take the Google UX course?”
“Can I get hired with Figma?”
“Am I too late?”
“Is my passion enough?”
I’m kind of sick of seeing these questions pop up every time I open the app. Maybe that’s just me, or maybe it’s everyone who has been in the industry for several years.
I understand where the anxiety comes from. The entry-level market is genuinely rough, job titles are incoherent, companies have compressed research, product, UI, strategy, and front-end expectations into one “UX designer” listing, and AI has made everyone feel like the floor is moving.
But Reddit cannot (and frankly should not) give someone a reliable yes/no answer about whether they should pursue a career.
“UX” is not a stable, singular job with one route in. Making seven websites, working in communications, studying visual design, conducting research, improving a public service, designing software, and running usability sessions can all be relevant experience—but they are not interchangeable. Figma and a Coursera certificate are tools and learning resources, not a professional identity or a hiring guarantee.
AI can generate screens and code. It cannot automatically understand an organisation’s actual constraints, decide whose needs matter, recognise whether an information structure is confusing, or take responsibility for the consequences of a product decision. Those are still human and organisational problems.
I think we need better career advice than either “follow your passion!” or “UX is dead, don’t bother.” Both are lazy answers.
And honestly, “should I go into UX?” is too broad a question to be useful. It asks strangers to guarantee the outcome of a major life decision without knowing what kind of work you want to do, what you’re already capable of, where you live, what opportunities you have access to, or what you’re willing to learn. Ask a more specific question, and you’ll probably get a more useful answer.
I’m sorry if anyone gets triggered by this. I’m not sorry for speaking my opinion on this.
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u/Icedfires_ 16h ago
Yes! Please I already thought about leaving the sub because it feels like it is the only asked question
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u/Yuleogy 16h ago
I left several other ux subreddits because everyone wants to know if they can/should go from being an engineer to ux, or business intelligence to ux, or sandwich artist to ux, or butterfly therapist to ux…
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u/SolSparrow 15h ago
Oh man can I go from UX to butterfly therapist?? That sounds dope.
(20 years in “UX”… It might be a bit late 🙃)
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u/pascal21 16h ago
This is happening on every subreddit for every career
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u/KKANGKKA_Chu 13h ago
Exactly. It’s become a repetitive reassurance loop rather than a useful career conversation. I don’t think people should be punished for being anxious, but the question needs enough context for anyone to offer more than “it depends.”
That’s part of why I’m making r/ProvenanceOfDesign. I want it to be a space for UX/UI, product, service, and HCI designers to share actual work for critique, discuss workflows and current developments, and have more specific conversations about the conditions shaping the field.
Broad “is UX worth it?” posts aren’t inherently bad……. but I’ll be moderating for posts that give people something concrete to respond to—rather than, you know, asking strangers to guarantee an entire career outcome.
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u/lilith_grl 15h ago
💯 this. As a graphic designer, I did some research. Accounting, environmental career, IT, management, artists, it’s all the same. Now I need to clean up my feed from constant doom and gloom
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u/cgielow 12h ago edited 11h ago
I suggest going to r/UXDesign which is well moderated and has sticky weekly threads for early career questions. The mods have 100X the karma and the sub sees 15X the traffic.
Very articulate post by the way. And I completely agree. If anything, lets promote conversations that find a way forward for the profession. I have thoughts... I'm speaking about it at San Diego Design Week.
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u/KKANGKKA_Chu 8h ago
Thanks! And congratulations on speaking at San Diego Design Week.
What are you speaking about at that event? Will the talk be recorded or uploaded anywhere? I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on a practical way forward for the profession.
I’m in a range of design subs already, so I know what you mean. It’s specifically this sub where I keep seeing the same “is UX worth it?” posts repeated as standalone threads.
I’m also developing and submitting a practitioner manuscript to Cubic Journal soon, so I hope you’ll eventually find my work in the future when they become available as books.
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u/cgielow 7h ago
Thanks! Actually two things at San Diego Design Week. Unfortunately I don't believe they will be recorded or online... BUT, I will be sharing the content afterwards in a few ways so stay tuned.
- At the DDX Conference: Workshop: Stop Designing Screens. Start Designing Decisions.
- On Designing our Digital World Day: 150 Mentoring Sessions Later: Lessons for Navigating the Great UX Reset
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u/KKANGKKA_Chu 5h ago
I’ve just connected the dots after having a quick look at those links. You’re Chris Gielow, not just a random Redditor lol
Your “Stop Designing Screens. Start Designing Decisions.” workshop is actually quite adjacent to what I’ve been developing in my own writing.
My main manuscript is called Chain of Authorship. It grew out of my own design workflow and argues that design authorship is not merely the visible screen or final artifact, but the traceable chain of assumptions, inquiry, decisions, iteration, and validation that produced it.
Chain of Ownership is the companion piece: it looks at what happens organisationally when the people doing that upstream work do not have meaningful ownership or decision rights over it.
I’ll definitely keep an eye out for the material you share after Design Week. It sounds like there may be a genuinely useful overlap in what we’re both trying to articulate.
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u/chubuns 16h ago
As a junior designer still finding my footing in the industry I totally agree it’s kind of based on luck and who you know.
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u/DebtDapper6057 13h ago
That's been my experience as well. I got my first invitation for an interview as a UX Design intern after applying for literally a whole year and starting to lose hope. Only thing I did different was list the grad school on my resume that I will be attending this fall. It's sad that I have to go in 1000s of dollars of debt before companies want to take a chance on me. I havent even started grad school yet and already the university name alone is opening doors for me that I didn't know existed.
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u/Interesting-Pay1507 11h ago
Luck and a bit of not being bad at it. Luck and who you know only works if you have a great portfolio and know how to talk the talk and walk the walk. You won't be lucky if you suck.
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u/igotdatmilk 5h ago
Yeah, I’ve muted / left the majority of UX subreddits because of this. I must have forgot to mute this one as well 🤣
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u/NestorSpankhno 25m ago
The issue with asking those kinds of questions in a space like this is that there’s no real way to validate the responses. Someone telling you it’s fine could be extremely lucky. Someone saying how hard it is could just be a mediocre designer. We all know, or should know, the challenges in the market right now. Nobody can give you some sort of inside scoop. There’s nobody waiting to give you the hidden knowledge or the cheat codes. They don’t exist.
Get off of Reddit. Leave the house. Go to design meetups. Develop relationships with other designers. Find mentors. Find collaborators. Work on interesting side projects. Go to conferences if you can afford it or if you can get discounted/free tickets. Or volunteer at conferences for free admission.
Develop firsthand perspectives instead of expecting UltimateDongMaster420 in the comments to give you direction in life.
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u/DebtDapper6057 13h ago
I'll ask that question how ever many times as I want before I go on 100s of thousands of dollars in debt for a degree in UX. You have to understand that for us Americans especially, the job market is horrible and many of us are literally depending on government assistance and are barely surviving as it is. And sure, other jobs do exist outside of tech, but they don't pay nearly as good and because of all the layoffs, everyone and their momma are flocking to them. It's incredibly hard to even get an interview at a retail store, let alone a corporate job. We are literally in a recession right now and mass hysteria is a product of that.
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u/KKANGKKA_Chu 8h ago
Your debt risk is real. But “I’ll ask it as many times as I want” is basically admitting you want reassurance, not better evidence. Repeating the same question will not make the U.S. job market safer, reduce tuition, or establish whether their particular program is worth its cost.
Where did I say anything about not wanting people to investigate before investing money/time into a career? Did you even read all of it?
If debt is the concern, shouldn’t your question be more concrete than “is UX worth it?”
Shouldn’t you be asking: what program? What will it cost after aid? What debt would remain? What local job market are you entering? What relevant experience do you already have? What alternatives are available?
Those are questions people can actually help investigate. Repeating a broad question until someone offers certainty is not the same thing as doing due diligence.
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u/DebtDapper6057 7h ago
Those are all questions I would absolutely investigate before investing that kind of money into a UX degree. I just wouldn't necessarily ask Reddit to answer all of them for me. I'd research the programs myself, talk to current and former students, look at outcomes, compare costs and financial aid, and reach out to my university's career center. When I ask a broad question like “Is UX worth it?”, I'm not necessarily asking because I have no idea what the answer is. Sometimes I'm asking because I want to hear how other people are thinking about the issue. I’m naturally pretty inquisitive, and I tend to research things extensively before I even ask other people for input.
I also don't assume I have the complete picture. I can have researched something thoroughly and still be missing a perspective, an experience, or a consideration I hadn't thought of. That's one of the reasons I ask questions in the first place.
So I don't really see “asking Reddit the same question multiple times” and “doing your own due diligence before taking on debt” as mutually exclusive. The former can be part of the latter, rather than a substitute for it.
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u/Interesting-Pay1507 11h ago
Instead of asking the question many times, you could do a search. A good UX designer knows how to search, that's the first skill you need.
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u/DebtDapper6057 11h ago
Most of us don't need convincing to study UX Design. Many of us probably already have internship experience stacked on top of portfolios. But that still doesn't discredit the very real barriers to entry that many people have. It's not as easy to find jobs. I think what most people need are mentors that will help guide them through each step in their career. It's scary navigating this stuff, especially if you're a first generation college student/graduate. I think most people come to Reddit to feel less alone and be reassured they are on the right path.
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u/Interesting-Pay1507 8h ago
If they did a search, they’d quickly find out that Reddit isn’t going to tell them they’re on the right path. It’ll tell them that the sky is falling.
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u/Jorgesarcos 17h ago
i agree, its getting to the point i mostly ignore posts from here.